Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 324 2 i Solution 2026-09-28
An -qubit stabilizer state is the unique simultaneous eigenstate of an abelian group of Pauli operators having elements and not containing . The group is the state's stabilizer group; equivalently, it is generated by independent commuting Hermitian Pauli operators.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 19H Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Irreducible degrees divide the order of a finite -group and satisfyThe number of linear characters is . For a nontrivial finite -group this is at least unless the group is abelian, and every nonlinear degree is at least . A degree constituent is therefore impossible in the nonabelian case. If there are linear and degree-two characters, thenThus the only degree collections arewith respectively .
For , take , where
and
. On the five classesthe four linear characters of , indexed by
, and its degree-two character areThe ten classes of are and . Its full table consists ofwhere runs over the above five rows and
runs over the two characters of . This explicitly gives eight linear and two degree-two rows.
and
. On the five classesthe four linear characters of , indexed by
, and its degree-two character areThe ten classes of are and . Its full table consists ofwhere runs over the above five rows and
runs over the two characters of . This explicitly gives eight linear and two degree-two rows.
For , take the dihedral groupOrder its seven classes asThe four linear rows areThe three degree-two rows, for , areThe row norms and mutual inner products, weighted by the displayed class sizes, verify irreducibility and completeness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 125 1 b Solution 2026-09-28
Embed as a smooth plane cubic with an inflection point. A line through , using the tangent when , has a third intersection counted with multiplicity. The chord-and-tangent group law defines , where is the third point on the line through and .
The divisor cut out by the first line isand the line through and gives . Their quotient therefore showsUnder the bijection from part (a), the chord-and-tangent operation is exactly addition in the abelian group . It is consequently associative and commutative, has identity , and has the geometrically defined point as inverse. Thus it makes an abelian group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 125 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be a smooth plane cubic whose identity is an inflection point. A line through and , using the tangent when , has a third intersection counted with multiplicity. The chord-and-tangent group law defines by drawing the line through and and taking its third intersection.
The clean verification of the group axioms uses divisors. The line at infinity meets a Weierstrass cubic in , so three collinear points satisfyConsequently the mapsends the chord-and-tangent construction to addition of divisor classes. The principal divisor criterion on an elliptic curve shows that this map is bijective. Associativity and commutativity therefore follow from the abelian group law on . The tangent convention handles repeated intersections, represents the zero class, and the third point on the line through and represents the inverse of . Hence all group axioms hold.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 129 1 i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Plünnecke-Ruzsa inequality says that if are finite nonempty subsets of an abelian group andthen for all nonnegative integers ,
Choose a nonempty minimizingthen . We first prove the Petridis minimal-growth lemmafor every finite , by induction on . Remove , write , and letThe new points contributed to by are exactly . Moreover, , soThe induction hypothesis, the identity , and minimality, which gives , yieldIteration with gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 151 2 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Schur multiplier of a group isthe second group homology group with trivial integral coefficients. If is a free presentation, Hopf's formula states that
Write for the augmentation ideal. The presentation relation sequence iswhere . If is free on a set , then is free as a left -module on the elements , so the two modules immediately preceding are free -modules. Resolving the relation module by free modules and splicing produces a free resolution of .
Apply the right-exact functor to this partial resolution. Its degree-two homology is the kernel ofThe coinvariant module on the left is . On the right, the map identifies the coinvariants with the abelianization . The displayed map is induced by the inclusion , so its kernel isThis proves Hopf's formula.
For an abelian group , the Schur multiplier of an abelian group is . One way to see the direct-sum rule is the degree-two Künneth theorem:A cyclic group has zero second integral group homology, whileConsequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 302 1 a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The integers are closed under addition, addition is associative, zero is an identity, and is the additive inverse of . Thus is an abelian group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 119 5 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The statement that limits of shape commute with colimits of shape means that for every , the canonical commutation of limits and colimits mapis an isomorphism whenever the iterated limits and colimits exist.
A filtered category is a nonempty category in which every finite diagram has a cocone. Equivalently, any two objects map to a common object and any parallel pair becomes equal after postcomposition. A weakly filtered category requires cocones only for finite connected diagrams; equivalently, each connected component is filtered.
Write a weakly filtered category as the disjoint union of its filtered connected components. Its colimit is the coproduct of the filtered colimits over the . In sets, a connected finite limit commutes with coproducts: connectedness forces all coordinates of a compatible tuple to lie in the same coproduct summand. By the assumed theorem, the filtered colimit over each commutes with every finite limit. Applying these two facts successively proves that weakly filtered colimits commute with connected finite limits in .
The forgetful functor from abelian group to sets creates finite limits and filtered colimits and reflects isomorphisms. The comparison map for a filtered colimit and a finite limit therefore becomes the corresponding isomorphism of sets, so filtered colimits commute with finite limits in .
The dual claim fails because inverse limit need not preserve epimorphisms. Take the inverse systemswith identity bonding maps on , reduction maps on , and levelwise epimorphisms . Thenand the induced map is not surjective. Since an epimorphism in abelian groups is a finite-colimit cokernel, cofiltered limits do not commute with finite colimits in .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 164 4 i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Entropic Balog-Szemerédi-Gowers theorem states that for finitely supported random variables in an abelian group,where the left-hand side is the Simultaneous conditional entropic Ruzsa distance.
Put and take two copies and that are conditionally independent given . Thus both sums equal , and, given , and are independent with the required conditional marginals. By conditioning reduces entropy,The two conditional entropies are equal, since either or together with determines the other, and the chain rule for information entropy gives
Set . By entropy submodularity,The first term is by subadditivity of information entropy. Since , we also have , so the second term is at most . Finally determines all four copied variables, and conditional independence givesAs , these estimates implySubtracting the common conditional-entropy term proves the stated Entropic Balog-Szemerédi-Gowers theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 165 2 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Dold–Kan correspondence says thatis an equivalence from simplicial abelian groups to nonnegatively graded chain complexes of abelian groups. The restriction of the right adjoint to is a quasi-inverse: both the unit and counit are natural isomorphisms.
Suppose . Choose a symbol moved by and write . Since , choose a third symbol distinct from . Let , a transposition that fixes . ThenThus , proving that the conjugacy class of any nonidentity permutation has more than one element. By part (a)(iii), no such permutation lies in the center of a group. The identity always does, soThe restriction on is necessary: is an abelian group and equals its own center.
The hypothesis implies for every , including . For ,Thus is an abelian group. This is the group of exponent two is abelian argument.
The converse is false: the cyclic group is an abelian group, but its two nonidentity elements have order of a group element three.
For the converse, the Klein four-group is an abelian group, with componentwise multiplication. Each nonidentity element has order of a group element two, so none generates its four elements. It is therefore not a cyclic group.
Fix . The integer powers of a group element satisfyFor nonnegative integers these rules follow by associativity and counting factors; negative integers are handled by , and opposite signs by cancellation of adjacent inverse elements. All factors are powers of the same element, so no abelian group assumption is involved.
It follows that is a group homomorphism from the additive group of integers to , andThe homomorphism uses ordinary addition on ; composition of the power functions corresponds to ordinary multiplication of exponents.
Suppose the quotient group is a cyclic group, generated by . For any , there are integers and such thatSince lie in the center of a group, they commute with every element, in particular with each other and with the integer powers of a group element . ThereforeAs were arbitrary, is an abelian group. This is the cyclic quotient by the center.
A vector space over a field is a set with vector addition and scalar multiplication satisfying the following vector space axioms. Under vector addition, is an abelian group: addition is associative and commutative, there is a zero vector , and each has an additive inverse . For all and ,The operations are defined for every indicated pair and take their values in .
If is an injective group homomorphism, then for all ,because lie in the abelian group . Injectivity gives . Hence .
Yes: use the non-abelian group from part (a). Every element is for a strictly upper triangular matrix with . In the finite field , the binomial theorem for commuting matrices givesThus . This constant identity-valued map is a group homomorphism, since . Part (a)(iv) already proves that is not an abelian group. Here is neither injective nor surjective, consistently with the preceding part.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2002 Paper 2 9 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Conjugacy classes. For , its conjugacy class isEvery element belongs to its own conjugacy class, by taking . To prove uniqueness, suppose belongs to both and . ThenFor every , this makes a conjugate of as well. Hence , and reversing the argument gives the other inclusion. Two conjugacy classes that meet are therefore equal, proving that the classes partition .
Centre. An element has a singleton conjugacy class precisely when for every , equivalently for every . Thus the definition in the paper agrees with the usual centre of a group:The identity lies in . If , then for any , , so . Also implies , so . This proves it is a subgroup. Any two of its elements commute because either one commutes with every element of . Consequently .